It is a common trope in zoo simulators that there are minimum and maximum amounts of foliage, and specific species of plant tolerable in an exhibit. To me these restrictions are unrealistic, unnecessarily restrictive, and immersion breaking. I understand the minimum foliage requirement. Foliage helps provide a visual barrier to decrease stress from both zoo visitors and intraspecies aggression. It makes sense that animals hailing from forests will be adapted to denser foliage and thus feel more exposed and stressed in a bare exhibit. Trees can also provide climbing as well as other enrichment opportunities. I struggle with the maximum foliage requirements. I can understand that animals need a certain amount of open space within their exhibit, and depending on placement foliage could detract from useable open space. Assuming the enclosure is large enough, can anyone think of a real situation where the presence of foliage would be stressful to the animal? I find the requirement to only include plants native to the animal's native range equally ridiculous. Exotic animals are exhibited outside of their native ranges, and for numerous reasons cannot be exhibited with natives plants. For example, both climate and the extremely long time it takes to reach maturity prevent live baobab from being displayed in exhibits outside its native range. It is immersion breaking to see palm trees in a zoo based in the UK. A lion may appreciate the shade produced by a tree but I don't believe the lion cares whether that shade is produced by an oak tree or an acacia. Even animals with much higher dependence on flora can adapt well to non-native foliage. For example, the lemurs at Duke Lemur Center seem at home navigating in the temperate North Carolina forest and even eat the native vegetation. The only point I can see to games including these restrictive requirements is a lazy attempt at adding a gameplay challenge. I think that a maximum foliage restriction could be easily replaced by a minimum navigable terrain requirement. Players could be encouraged to use native plantings in exhibits by giving a bonus to the exhibit education rating. Personally I would like to concurrently see a feature restricting the survival of live plants outdoors outside of their natural biome. Another interesting gameplay challenge would be the consumption/ destruction of plants by animals in the exhibit. This would force players to come with creative solutions to providing enough plants in exhibits to satisfy both animal and guest expectations.
